Valentine’s Day was my mother’s birthday. When she turned 80, my brother gave her a sweatshirt proclaiming “No more birthdays! Just Valentine’s Day!” which she wore every birthday for the next 13 years. After Mother died Sep. 5, 2005, we were all involved in her memorial service.

Thomas created the program, Sarah sang “Amazing Grace.” My mother’s middle name was Grace so that was especially fitting. I said a few words. My brother dealt with the funeral director, but that’s another story.

Our colleges and universities are, and have always been, an integral part of New Mexico’s economic development plans for preparing young adults and retraining older New Mexicans for jobs around the state. But our higher education system is staid and close to moribund, reluctant to shed the model and processes that have worked well in the past.

Higher education must change, and we must help it change, to meet the changing needs of students and their future employers.

Adam did not get a choice in who his wife was. God made that decision for him. In the Bible, Genesis 2:22, we are told “Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.” Although not stated in the scripture, God probably said something along the lines of “Adam, here is Eve.” I am sure Adam had some interesting visits with God about Eve.

Before Berkeley, there was UNM. Same scheduled speaker, very different results.

On Jan. 27, Milo Yiannapoulos, a far-right provocateur, came to the University of New Mexico to speak as part of his “Dangerous Faggot Tour.” The New Mexico Daily Lobo reported that about 600 people attended his speech, with another 200 or so outside protesting his presence on campus. Both gatherings were generally peaceful, according to the newspaper’s reports.

Pick up any news article that deals with the bestowing of some sort of honor, be it the Super Bowl championship, winning the presidency of the United States, being named a beauty queen or being appointed hallway monitor at your high school. It doesn’t matter.

What these supposed honors have in common is the choice of words the awardees use. Invariably, you’ll run across “humbled,” as in “I’m humbled to have been elected president.”

The act of simply cutting state spending, without considering any revenue enhancements, can hurt New Mexico’s long-term economic performance in several ways.

Important public services will be curtailed, making New Mexico a less attractive place to visit, live and start or expand a business; state contracts and spending with local businesses will decrease, hurting those businesses’ bottom lines and forcing them to lay off employees or severely cut their hours; and all employees will have less money to spend in our local communities.